LOVEly Day

What are you and your lovies doing to celebrate today?  Joe and I are treating ourselves to a special night out on Friday at Boka but tonight we are staying in and making a yummy chicken curry in coconut milk with soba noodles and unwinding with a glass (or 2) of vino! I always like to write a few sentiments in a card too...yes I'm a card person, but I don't really need a holiday to inspire me to pick up a pen.  I just enjoy capturing the moments through words.  After all, words are all we have, right!  To show those we love that they really matter and that they are enough.  And when words aren't enough we can always rely on crafting something sweet like this paper projects above!  How great is that giant pom pom heart!  May your day be a most lovely one indeed!

DIY Hearts/ Crayon Hearts/ Love Pom Pom

Inspired by: Dip Dyed Home Goods

 Antique Spoons, Side Table, Candles, Tablecloth, Baskets, Curtains

I always love to find new and unique DIY techniques to help reinvent and give home pieces a fresh new look.  I realize this dip dyed technique has been floating around the online community for a while but it's only just now pulled me into seeing its possibilities for a certain coffee table that I think would be a perfect dip dye canidate! Do you have any home decor trends that are calling you to rethink any home goods?  

Thankful for...

Finally being able to make meringue!!  Yes it's true, this simple yet tricky mixing of egg whites and sugar has eluded me for the past few holidays.  Whenever I have tried to make it it always came out to runny and not at all like the beautiful glossy peaks you see in the recipes.  What's the secret you ask?  Room temperature eggs (I left mine out overnight) and a heat proof bowl.  I mixed my ingredients in a plastic bowl, making sure it was squeaky clean beforehand (any oil can contaminate the egg mixture). That's it, that's all!

My family are serious foodies (my parents cooked a "test" turkey a few weeks ago).  So I decided to make a test pie at home first, as to make sure it would not disappoint.  I found this recipe in the Nov issue of Martha Stewart.  Trust me when I say this pie is as delish as it looks!  I'm off to watch the rest of the Macy's Day Parade in my pj's!  Have a healthy happy Thanksgiving :)

Craft Product Review: Scissors & Punch

Crafting is one of my great loves! And to find products that are smart, help me to save time, and create great results? One of my goals is to find these products, test them and then share the results with my lovely readers! This weekend I tested out my newest Martha Stewart crafting products for an upcoming project and they are now an essential part of my craft closet.  The first product is fringe scissors, they have 5 scissor blades in one handle. A great time saving tool to create your own streamers and other fringe like projects, like my fringe backdrop.  And the second is an all over circle punch.  Unlike most paper punches, where you can only punch a shape on the border of the paper, this punch lets you punch anywhere on your paper. Which means you get more punches per paper and less waste, great! I used a medium weight card stock to create this paper garland. Thanks Martha for creating such handy tools for crafters like me :)  Oh, and the product design is easy on the eyes, so I don't mind displaying any of her craft products either because they just look so pretty.

Photography: evphotogal
Fabric Ribbon: evphotogal
Blog Template: Pugly Pixel

Weekly Roundup

Good Housekeeping

Happy Friday everyone! This day couldn't come fast enough for me. I have so much to do, so many things dancing around in my head. Tonight I am making gingerbread dough so I can relax and take my time decorating them tomorrow at my family's annual cookie baking exchange. I'm so excited and will try to take photos of the event, if my hands aren't to covered in icing. I know I promised you to show you what I'm crafting up with my thrifted sweaters (and am also in the works to complete those tonight too!) To help keep my spirits lifted today at work I've been listening to this jazzy take on Christmas songs. I highly recommend playing it in the background as you work through your day today :) Happy Friday, cheers to a great weekend!

Amazon

Show your sew

The always lovely Martha Stewart website is having a great giveaway for a chance to win a copy of her Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric craft book. All you have to do to enter is submit a photo of your favorite sewing project over here. I just dropped by and submitted my T-shirt quilt. Crossing my fingers...I could spend countless hours pouring over this book!

Earth Day Love

In honor of Earth Day's 40th celebration head over here for some eco-friendly crafts you can create using materials you might already have on hand!

{ Notebook & Lunch Labels }

Walking down the back to school aisle last night at Target got me to thinking about how much fun it was as a kid this time of year. Not the going back to school part (of course), but the school supply shopping trips will always hold sweet memories for me. Perhaps this is why a sharpened #2 pencil continues to be my writing utensil of choice and why I love to keep Crayola markers on hand, just in case a creative moment strikes (of course). I found these cute, fun and free downloads while roamimg the electronic aisles of the lovely Martha Stewart. The notebook labels are adorable, I had a fun afternoon printing and cutting them up with my niece and nephew not to long ago. And the lunch labels are sure to make any kiddos lunch extra special! Makes me want to go back to school...sorta. Enjoy.

{Photos by Martha Stewart}